Irony of the golden age of accounting methodolgy

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The Accounting Historians Journal Vol. 16, No. 2 December 1989
Tom Mouck THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO
THE IRONY OF "THE GOLDEN AGE" OF ACCOUNTING METHODOLOGY
Abstract: Developments in accounting methodology during the 1960s are contrasted with concurrent developments in philosophy of science. The 1960s was a decade characterized by the widespread adoption of "the scientific method" in accounting methodology. The same decade was characterized by the degeneration of any semblance of consensus among philosophers of science regarding the nature of scientific inquiry. The irony of these incongruous but simultaneous developments is highlighted with the intent of weakening the current atmosphere of uncritical reverence for science and "the scientific method" in accounting research. A more contemporary (and more open) view of science — the postempiri-cist view — also is discussed.
Ruth Hines recently has expressed concern about dogmatic tendencies in accounting research; tendencies which are linked to "an unwarranted reverence for science and 'the scientific method' " [1988, pp. 660-61]. Reverence for "the scientific method" can be traced to developments in the 1960s — the decade that has been dubbed "The Golden Age" of accounting methodology [Graffikin, 1988]. The 1960s also has been referred to as the "Decade of Awakening" [Dyckman and Zeff, 1984, p. 233] — the decade during which accounting researchers awoke to the scientific method. This is highly ironic because the 1960s was the decade that saw the deterioration of any semblance of consensus among philosophers of science. Just as accounting researchers were discovering "the scientific method" philosophers of science were witnessing its disintegration. The aim of this article is to undermine the atmosphere of dogmatism noted by Hines by highlighting the irony of the Golden Age of accounting methodology and calling attention to a more con-temporary (more open) view of science that has been referred to as the postempiricist view.
THE 1960s: A DECADE OF AWAKENING FOR ACCOUNTING METHODOLOGY
There is no question that the 1960s represent a watershed in accounting research. Gaffikin [1987] has argued that, with few